Gonzaga forward Braden Huff has been placed on the 2026-27 Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy Men's College Player of the Year Watch List.
Huff, a 6-foot-10 forward from Glen Ellyn, Ill., put together a strong season before injury ended it early. He averaged 17.8 points and 5.6 rebounds across 18 appearances, shooting 66.2 percent from the field. In all, he finished with 320 points and 101 rebounds.
He also turned in a productive showing in Gonzaga’s exhibition at Arkansas on Oct. 24, scoring 19 points and collecting 11 rebounds.
Huff is one of 50 players on the watch list. The full group includes Amari Allen of Alabama, Flory Bidunga of Louisville, John Blackwell of Duke, Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje of Duke, Elliot Cadeau of Michigan, Rueben Chinyelu of Florida, Alex Condon of Florida, Jason Crowe Jr. of Missouri, Thijs De Ridder of Virginia, Silas Demary Jr. of UConn, Mason Falslev of Utah State, Jeremy Fears Jr. of Michigan State, PJ Haggerty of Texas A&M, Juke Harris of Tennessee, Thomas Haugh of Florida, Shelton Henderson of Miami, Aden Holloway of Alabama, Caleb Holt of Arizona, Josh Hubbard of Mississippi State, Tomislav Ivišić of Illinois, Nigel James Jr. of Marquette, Trey Kaufman-Renn of Kansas, Ivan Kharchenkov of Arizona, Motiejus Krivas of Arizona, Acaden Lewis of Miami, Tamin Lipsey of Iowa State, Trey McKenney of Michigan, David Mirković of Illinois, John Mobley Jr. of Ohio State, Milan Momcilovic of Kentucky, Braylon Mullins of UConn, Paulius Murauskas of Arizona State, Patrick Ngongba II of Duke, Tahaad Pettiford of Auburn, David Punch of Texas, Malik Reneau of Miami, Rodney Rice of USC, Pryce Sandfort of Nebraska, Jackson Shelstad of Louisville, Jordan Smith Jr. of Arkansas, Andrej Stojaković of Illinois, Tyran Stokes of Kansas, Tyler Tanner of Vanderbilt, JT Toppin of Texas Tech, Joseph Tugler of Houston, Matas Vokietaitis of Texas, Nolan Winter of Wisconsin, Robert Wright III of BYU and Tounde Yessoufou of St. John's.
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For Gonzaga, the timing matters because the schedule is lined with games against teams featuring other Naismith watch-list players, giving Huff plenty of chances to measure himself against the best. It also keeps the spotlight on a player the Bulldogs will be counting on to help anchor what comes next, even as the season's early storylines begin to take shape. [Read more 🡒]